Talk with your fellow tone freaks on the web's liveliest (and friendliest!) tone forum. All are welcome, from seasoned pros to absolute beginners.

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Shaws, UOA5, hype and the power of the WWW

I've made a thread about suddenly getting many orders of mag swap in Gibson p'ups with UOA5s... looks like I've found how it happened.

Seems like in one or more of the several Les Paul forums, somebody made a post on how to recognize Shaw p'ups from the rest of Gibson p'ups, vintage and not.

In the list of specs, it was listed that the Shaws were using UOA5 mags. And for some strange reason, lately Shaws, T-Tops and Pat#s are in high demand, something that goes beyond my comprehension.

Unless, the vintage market is hyping'em as real PAFs dried out and are not available anymore, which it makes sense to me.

So, I think the word started to spread and here in Spaghettiland seems I'm the one guy that ever knew about'em, let alone using'em.

I'll be soon hitting Dennis with a substantial order and this time I'll be able to afford to pay DHL rates to have'em shipped ASAP!

It'll be a pleasure to see more people get acquainted with good tone.

A lot of people 'round here uses Gibson p'ups and never question their tone as they believe that if they're GIBSON p'ups and they sound like that, that's SUPPOSED TO BE good tone!

Anyway, if this trend develops, I'm pretty sure with time, I'll get many lost souls converted to the Duncan side, as they're better sounding p'ups to start with, and most take mag swaps gracefully, specially the PAFish designs (Seths, PGs, '59s, Jazzs) and the of course the Custom family including their newborn, the Custom/'59 Hybrid.

Re: Shaws, UOA5, hype and the power of the WWW

Now, I will say that the later T Tops mostly suck eggs but the early ones are quite good and the Shaws...smokin pickups!

I pulled the Shaws from my Moderne because I felt I needed to "upgrade" after spending too long on a forum but after several years the Shaws are back home where they belong.

I was never blown away by them but my issue was not with the pickups but with the stupid factory 300k pots...put in some nice 500k and the Shaws became a whole new beast!

If you just read a post by The Guy Who Invented Fire please understand that opinions change, mind sets change and as players our ears mature...not to mention our needs grow and change. With that in mind, today I may or may not agree with the post you just read!

Re: Shaws, UOA5, hype and the power of the WWW

Originally Posted by the guy who invented fire

Now, I will say that the later T Tops mostly suck eggs but the early ones are quite good and the Shaws...smokin pickups!

I haven't had any Shaws on my workbench that I remember, but from early and late T-Tops I haven't found any differences. Same wire (AWG #42 SPN), same magnet (short polished A5), same 65 TPL winding pattern, same quantity of turns, as all consistently fell within 0.5% of 7.5K.

As neck p'ups I don't consider'em to be something to write home about, and as bridge p'ups I find'em whiny, puny and wimpy. But lately selling them to supposedly golden-eared tone snobs seems to be a lucrative activity.

I'd like to ask you, as you present yourself as a seasoned guitar tech/luthier: did you ever encountered T-Tops with WHITE AND BLUE bobbin leads? The reason I ask is because some acquaintance of mine bragged about getting some T-Tops and the pictures he showed me the bobbin leads were white and blue and I've never encountered other than black and white and very few black and red, so they looked fishy to me. But not being very knowledgeable on Gibson p'ups I thought to just ask.

Re: Shaws, UOA5, hype and the power of the WWW

Originally Posted by LtKojak

I haven't had any Shaws on my workbench that I remember, but from early and late T-Tops I haven't found any differences. Same wire (AWG #42 SPN), same magnet (short polished A5), same 65 TPL winding pattern, same quantity of turns, as all consistently fell within 0.5% of 7.5K.

As neck p'ups I don't consider'em to be something to write home about, and as bridge p'ups I find'em whiny, puny and wimpy. But lately selling them to supposedly golden-eared tone snobs seems to be a lucrative activity.

I'd like to ask you, as you present yourself as a seasoned guitar tech/luthier: did you ever encountered T-Tops with WHITE AND BLUE bobbin leads? The reason I ask is because some acquaintance of mine bragged about getting some T-Tops and the pictures he showed me the bobbin leads were white and blue and I've never encountered other than black and white and very few black and red, so they looked fishy to me. But not being very knowledgeable on Gibson p'ups I thought to just ask.

If you care to answer, I'm all ears.

I'm not a tech or luthier at all I know my way around doing my own set ups and small tech work but a luther I am not.

In answer to your question, no...I have never seen that but to be fair I've never looked either.

As for the rest of it, in terms of T-Top tone, I think T-tops make sweet neck pickups and I like them as bridge pickups too...being so close in DC they require some work to get a great balance from neck to bridge but so did PAF's and I don't hear guys *****ing about those very often.

All that said it is very obvious to be based on reading your posts and your habits of changing magnets, using hot pickups and 250k pots on humbuckers that you don't really favor vintage sounding stuff very much, I on the other hand do so for me T-Tops fit the bill nicely.

Shaws are different that T-Tops in a number of ways but still very good...they are also pretty close in DC from neck to bridge so they also require being creative to get a good neck/bridge balance but again I find it worth it.

I have 3 Gibsons with Humbuckers...one with Shaws, one with T Tops and one with Duncan Antiquities...they are all 3 very sweet sounding guitars, the one with Ants was the easiest to dial in due to the calibrated pickups but once they were dialed in all of them have a great tone that works for me and my playign style!

If you just read a post by The Guy Who Invented Fire please understand that opinions change, mind sets change and as players our ears mature...not to mention our needs grow and change. With that in mind, today I may or may not agree with the post you just read!

Re: Shaws, UOA5, hype and the power of the WWW

Here is Joe B with his early 80's Heritage series Flying V Reissue...I know for a fact it has the stock Shaw pickups...doesn't sound thin to me at all.

Here he is with his 70's era ES-355 with stock T-Tops...again, nothing thin about this.

If you just read a post by The Guy Who Invented Fire please understand that opinions change, mind sets change and as players our ears mature...not to mention our needs grow and change. With that in mind, today I may or may not agree with the post you just read!

Re: Shaws, UOA5, hype and the power of the WWW

Wouldn't you say the T-top in the neck is extraordinarily smooth? I had a T-top, sold it , and regret it, and would like another one. In the bridge I got say I was underwhelmed like Kojak, but the neck was really sweet and syrupy like a double chocolate malt!

Re: Shaws, UOA5, hype and the power of the WWW

Seth is a PAF (style)...T-Tops were all alnico 5 for starters and the winds were always in the 7.5k range save for a few odd balls that got out.

I'd say they are the same family but still different for sure...

Here is a Phil X demo of a 66 ES-345 featuring early T Tops.

There is a bit of neck alone on this.

Here is a "better" quality demo of a 66 Trini into a clean Fender amp

If you just read a post by The Guy Who Invented Fire please understand that opinions change, mind sets change and as players our ears mature...not to mention our needs grow and change. With that in mind, today I may or may not agree with the post you just read!